News Flash Spanish Law

Starting with Ley 15/2014, of the 16th of September, concerning the rationalisation of the Public Sector and other measures re administrative reform. Total of the measures supposed to lead to decrease of costs.

– Sports licences, that used to be issued by the Autonomous Communities and were only valid for competitions within the same region, are to be valid nationally. The Autonomous Sports Federations who of course made a nice buck from this, will be compensated, so how exactly this will lead to a substantial decrease in costs, I do not know :-).

– The use of Electronic Signature will become more widely available for Public Services. Several Digital Certificates that are listed by the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism should be recognised in all Autonomous Regions and, following European Reglament, foreign certificates, issued in other EU countries, should be admitted as well.

– the BOE (Boletín Official Estatal – the State Bulletin) will become the one and only official publication for the entire state administration, not just the General Administration. All provincial and municipal notifications will be published on the State Bulletin as well. To this end, the Ley General Tributaria and the Ley del Catastro Inmobiliario will need to be amended, so that notifications re tax procedures and cadastre procedures can be published there.

– All buildings purchased by government bodies must have high energy rendiment, in other words, a good score on the Energy Certificate.

– A lot of foundations are to go up in government organisations, for example in the areas of culture and education.

–  a national database for grants and subsidies must replace all the autonomous databases.

Continuing with Ley 18/2014, of the 15th of October, re the approval of urgent measures to encourage growth, competitivity and efficiency.

– opening a shop should become easier, instead of applying for a licence, a ´responsible declaration´ or simple notification might suffice in a lot of cases. For any other commercial enterprises that require licences, the process should become simpler, the process time shorter and all aspects dealt with by one, to be determined, public organisation.

– tourism, Spain´s main ´milk cow´. The Law on Commercial Opening Hours that offers basic objective criteria to determine if a certain town  qualifies as being of ´tourism interest´, will be amended by this new Law, stating new criteria. Towns that meet this criteria must register a denominated ´zone of tourism affluence´ in which opening hours for shops can be freely determined. If they fail to do so, this freedom will be valid for the entire town, all through the year. Any town with over 100.000 inhabitants (before: 200.000) or more than 600.000 ( before: 1.000.000) overnight stays will need to register. Twenty four towns/cities in Spain now qualify, amongst the ten newly added are Salamanca, Marbella, Almeria and Jerez de la Frontera.

– paying with debit or credit cards in shops should become less expensive for the shopkeeper. The costs involved cannot exceed 0,2% with debit and 0,3% with credit card. Payments under 20 euros cannot incur costs higher than 0,1% with debit and 0,2% with credit card. Additionally, debit card payments will have a maximum floor of 7 eurocents, applicable on all payments over 35 euros.

– part of the market for suppliers of bottled gas will be liberated and the services provided must reach out to those in areas away from the town´s centres. The main supplier in an area will be obliged to deliver gas bottles to your home address, if the customer so requires, at a maximum established price.

– employers will be offered incentives (discounts on Seguridad Social contributions or on educational programmes e.g.) for employing young people characterized as ´not studying, nor working´ in the age group 16 to 25. Plan Garantia Juvenil this is called.

– all registrations performed at or services provided by Civil Registers remain free of cost. As of the 15th of July 2015 all Civil Registers, including the consulates, will make use of one and the same computer system, equipped with the same software.

– University students or those studying to be professionals of any kind, will receive a 100% discount on Seguridad Social contributions while employed to get work experience, as part of their study programme. Or rather, the companies that employ them will. As of 1st of August of this year.

– With effect from the 1st January 2014, the amount that is to be withheld from invoices submitted by Autonomos who carry out professional activities is reduced to 15% under the following circumstances : where the amount from such activities in the preceding fiscal year is less than €15,000.- and represents more than 75% of the gross labour and economic activities of the taxpayer in that year.

In order that the correct amount is withheld, taxpayers who meet this criteria must notify the recipient of the invoice in writing that they meet the required criteria described above. The payer is authorised to reduce the deduction, but they must retain the written request as evidence.

This summary is of course by no means complete, I just picked out the tidbits that could be of interest to you, or whose effect we will notice in every day life.

Please note: The information provided is based upon our understanding of current legislation. It is not legal advice but is provided freely to enable you to be properly informed. We recommend that if you are considering taking action, you should seek professional advice.